Jacksonville, Fla. - The Georgia State men's tennis team (0-1) lost in its 2011 season opener against North Florida, 5-2, on Saturday. The Panthers earned two singles victories from sophomore Victor Valente and freshman Vincent Verpeaux.

The Panthers started the match by losing all three doubles matches to fall behind 1-0. The No. 3 doubles team of Vincent Verpeaux/Lucas Santana played the closest match, losing in the tiebreaker, 8-7 (7-4).

North Florida won three more matches at No. 3, No. 5, and No. 4 singles to give the Ospreys a 4-0 advantage. Leonardo Nahar defeated Juan Pablo Gutierrez, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 4 singles to clinch the match.

Valente, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, earned the first point for Georgia State at No. 2 singles with a straight sets victory over Hleb Maslau, 6-4, 6-2.

Freshman Gabe Townes played No. 1 singles for the Panthers and lost in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to Moritz Buerchner.

Verpeaux, from Puyricard, France, also picked up a victory for Georgia State at No. 6 singles with a three-set victory over Pedro Davisson, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8). Verpeaux won the third-set tie break, 10-8 to earn his first collegiate win.

"UNF was simply better than us today," said head coach Chase Hodges.  "Our lack of court time was evident and things will only get tougher tomorrow at UCF.  I was proud of Valente and Verpeaux for getting wins today and playing well.

Georgia State returns to action tomorrow against UCF at 12 p.m. in Orlando, Fla.